Vilhjálmur Árnason (born 29 October 1983 in

Sauðárkrókur Sauðárkrókur () is a Localities of Iceland, town on the Skagafjörður in northern Iceland. It is the seat of both the Skagafjörður (municipality), Sveitarfélagið Skagafjörður ('Municipality of Skagafjörður') and the Northwestern Re ...

, Iceland) is an Icelandic politician, representative of the

South Constituency South () is one of the six multi-member constituencies of the Althing, the national legislature of Iceland. The constituency was established in 2003 following the re-organisation of constituencies across Iceland when the Southern constituency w ...

in the

Althing The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme Parliament, national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ('Thing (assembly), thing ...

, and the secretary for the Independence Party.

Early life

Vilhjálmur was born in a town in northwestern Iceland called

, part of the

Skagafjörður municipality Skagafjörður () is a deep fjord and its valley in northern Iceland. Location Skagafjörður, the fjord, is about 40 km long and 15 km wide, situated between Tröllaskagi to the east and the Skagi Peninsula to the west. There are ...

, on 29 October 1983. He joined the Independence Party soon after finishing school, and obtained a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in law from

Reykjavík University Reykjavík University (RU; , , ) is the largest private university in Iceland with approximately 3,300 students. It is Charter school, chartered by the Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Icelandic Industries, and the Confederation of Icelandi ...

in 2013.

Non-political career

Vilhjálmur served as a police officer and was head of the Board of the

Icelandic Police In Iceland, the Police (, ) is the national police force of Iceland. It is responsible for law enforcement throughout the country, except in Icelandic territorial waters which fall under the jurisdiction of the Icelandic Coast Guard. Police affa ...

Officers Association from 2008 until 2012.

Political career

Vilhjálmur became a representative for the

in Iceland's parliament, the

, in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. He was re-elected to the same position in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, and

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. From 2021 to 2024, he served as a member of the Budget Committee and as chair of the Environment and Communications Committee. From 2017 to 2018, Vilhjálmur served as a representative of Iceland within the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

. In 2022, at the 44th party conference, Vilhjálmur was elected to become the secretary for the Independence Party.

Personal life

Vilhjálmur has two children and is married to Sigurlaug Pétursdóttir.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vilhjalmur Arnason 1983 births Vilhjálmur Árnason Living people Vilhjálmur Árnason Vilhjálmur Árnason Vilhjálmur Árnason Vilhjálmur Árnason Vilhjálmur Árnason